THOMAS MARION (B0B) MATTHEWS1881 - 1951

I will start this page about my favorite grandfather. The reason that he was my favorite grandfather is he was the only grandfather that I ever knew. His parents named him Thomas Marion Matthews. His first name and mine are the same. I called him “Pa Mass”. I
gave him that name when I was very young just because I could not say
Pa Matthews, so I am told. My sister Carolyn and Brother Joe picked up
the name from me. My brother C.H. called (Pa Mass) Bob. I think because he was older and just heard everyone else call him Bob. I will add just a note about my grandmother. Her parents named her Tilda Ann and everyone called her “Bell”. I do not know to this day why she was called “Bell”. I
have been told that she took the name “Bell” so that her grandchildren
would not call her grandmother, etc, because that would make her sound
old. When friends made reference to Thomas M. Matthews and wife Tilda Ann Matthews, it was Bob and Bell. I was told that the name Bob was given to Thomas Marion Matthews because he owned a horse named Bob. Pa
Mass would mount old Bob (the horse) and ride him to the site of the
moonshine still and keep a watch out for law officers looking for
moonshine stills. At that point in time moonshine stills were quiet plentiful. Bob (the horse) and Pa Mass spent a lot of time together as you can imagine. When Pa Mass died in 1951 I had seen very few people in caskets. I was eleven years old. I
can remember the ride to the cemetery that day and I began to
understand that I would never see Pa Mass again at his house on Union
Avenue in Florence, Alabama. By the way, he built the house where he and Bell lived. He was working on an addition to the house at the time of his death. He had several jobs during his lifetime, including helping to build Wilson Dam on the Tennessee River at Florence, Alabama. He
was seventy years old when he died and had never retired from public
work. He was working for the city of Florence, Alabama at the time of
his death. He was on his way home from work to his home on Union Avenue, when he stopped and lay down for the last time. He must have known the end of his life was close. In
closing I will add for future generations to remember, the
personalities of all of the brothers and sisters of Thomas Marion
Matthews were very similar. You always saw a lot
of smiles and of course those quite interesting jokes and stories and an
occasional sip of moonshine that most likely gave the name Bob to
Thomas Marion Matthews.